The Emporia weekly news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1881-1889, 1887-02-17
THE DEPENDENr Pension BII.I.


4AAS uAS8D0ECs
WASHINGTON, Feb. 1.-THE follow
ing is the text of the presidents mes.
sage vetoing the dependent parents pen
sion bill:
To the House OF Representatives.
1 herewith return without my ap-
proval, House Bill No. 10,457, entitled
IAN act for the relief of dependent par
ents and honorably discharged soldiers
and sailors who are now disabled and
dependent upon their own labor for sup
port. This is the first general bill that
has been sanctioned by the congress
since the close Of the war, permitting a
pension to the soldiers and sailors who
served In that war on the grounds of
service aud present disability alone, and
in the entire absence of any injuries re-
ceived by the casualties or incidents of
such service, while by almost constant
legislation since the close of the war
for every possible injury received as a
result of military service in the Union
army, and while great number of the
laws passed for that purpose
have been administered with great
hberality and have been supplemented
by numerous private acts to reach
special cases, there has not until now
been an avowed departure from the
principle thus far adhered to respecting
union soldiers, that the bounty of the
government in the way of pensions is
generously bestowed when granted to
those who in this military service
and in the line of military duty have to
a greater or less extent been disabled:
but it Is a mistake to suppose that
service pensions, such as are permitted
by the second section of the bill under
consideration, are new to our legisla-
ton. In 1918 thirty-five years after the
close of the revolutionary war, there
were granted to the soldiers engaged in
the struggle. conditional upon service
until the end of the war or for term
not less than nine months, and requir-
ing every beneficiary under the act to
be one ''who is, or hereafter by reason
OF his reduced circumstances in life,
shall be in need of assistance from his
country for support" Another law of
a like character was passed in 1908 re-
quiring service until the close of the
revolutionary war, and still another
passed in 1882 provided for those per-
sons not included in the previous statute
but who served two years at some time
during the war and giving proportion
ate sum to those who had served not
less than six months. A service pen
sion law was passed for the benefit of
the soldiers of 1912 in the year
1871, fifty-six years after the
close of that year, which required
only sixty days service, and another
was passed in 1878, simply three years
after the war requiring only fourteen
days service. The service pension bill
passed by this session of congress
thirty nine years after the close of the
Mexican war, for the benefit of the sol
diers of that war. requires either some
degree of disability or dependency, or
that the claimant under its provisions
should be SiXty-two years of age, and
IN either case that he should have
served sixty days or been actually en-
gagged in a battle. 1t shall be readily
seen that the bill of 1918 and the Next
can pension bill, being thus passed
nearer the close of the wars in which its
beneficiaries were engaged than the
others, one thirty-five and the other
thirty-nine years after the termination
of such wars, embraced persons who
were quite advanced in age, assumed to
be comparatively few in number and
whose circumstances, dependence and
disability were clearly defined and
could be quite easily fixed. The other
laws referred to appear to have been
passed at time so remote from the
military service of the persons which
was deemed to supply presumption of
dependence and need. The number of
enlistments in the revolutionary war
is stated to be 800 .791, and in the war
of 1912 SIC, 622, but it is estimated that
on account of Refreshments the num-
Der of individuals engaged in these
wars did not exceed one-half the num-
Der represented by the figures. In the
war with Mexico the number of enlist
,ke,r fsca6 tLa NrTl1I 5.k1
represents a greater proportion of indi-
viduals engaged than the reported en-
listments in the two previous wars.
The number of pensions granted under
all the laws to soldiers of the war of
1872 and their widows is COLTS and to
soldiers of the Mexican war
and their widows up to June 30,
1855, was 1919. This number
of pensions was granted to the
soldiers of war involving much hard
ship for disabilities incurred as re-
suit of such service, and it was not till
within the last month that the few re-
manning survivors were awarded a SER
vice pension. The war of the rebellion
terminated nearly twenty-one years
ago. The number of men furnished for
its prosecution is stated to be 2,772 400.
No corresponding number of statutes
have ever been passed to cover every
kind of injury or disability incurred in
the military service of any war. Under
the statutes SCI $40 pensions have been
granted from the year 1851 to June 80,
1886, and more than 1900 pensioners
have been added to the soldiers by pri-
vate acts passed to meet cases, many of
them of questionable merit which
the general laws did not
cover. On the 1st day of July, 1885,
365, 1853 pensioners of all classes were
upon the pension rolls, of whom 3O5,-
sos were survivors OF the rebellion
and their widows and dependents.
For the year ending June, 1887, S75,-
payment of pensions, and the amount
expended for that purpose from 1851 to
July 1, 1885, is S8O6, AZ, S11.51. While
annually paying out such a vast sum
for pensions already granted, it is now
proposed by the bill under conSidera-
ton to award service pension to the
soldiers of all wars in which the United
States has been engaged, including, OF
course, the war of the rebellion, and tC
pay those entitled to the benefits of the
act the sum of $12 per month. So as il
late civil war, the bounty il
| affords them is given thirteen years
earlier than it has been furnished tt
the soldiers of any other war and before
large majority of its benefciaries have
advanced in age beyond the strength
and vigor of the prime of life. 1t ex
acts only military or naval service o.
three months without any requirement
of actual engagement with an enemy
| in battle and without a subsection Il
any of the actual danger of war. Thu
pension it awards is allowed to enlisted
men who have not suffered the leas
injury, disability, loss or damage of an.
kind incurred, or in any degree referra
BILE to their military service, including
those who never reached the front a
all and those discharged from rendes
vous at the close Of the wal
and discharged three month
after enlistment. Under the last cal
of the president for troops in December
1884, II 1903 men were furnished, VIII
were thus discharged. The sectio
allowing this pension does, however
require beside 8 service of three month
md an honorable discharge, that thOs
seeking the benefit of the act shall b
such as are now or may hereafter
suffering from mental or physical dis
bility not the result of their own viciou
habits or gross carelessneSS, which incs
nooit afrc them from fho nprf0FTn anf